About jnt13

The 18th Amazing Race is officially in the books and there are now 40 people in the country that can claim to be Amazing Race Winners. And for the first time, a team that has appeared twice on the Race has won. If you recall, All-Stars winners Eric/Danielle were not a team on AR9, so we have that bit of history as well. And like the chemistry-impaired duo from All-Stars, we have our second winning team ever whose only victory during the Race occurred on the final, most important leg.

Oh, and that makes two Races in a row where the only Y chromosome on the Finish Mat belonged to Phil.

That’s right, Kisha/Jen, the Sisters, are the winners of the Unfinished Business Themed Race. Their victory puts to rest their mistake from AR14, which, to be honest, was the second most worthy reason for one of these teams to get a second chance. I still think Zev/Justin’s first mistake – the passport loss – was the worst. Losing the Race because you had to pee – is a very close second.

I also think that we need to send some major kudos to our new champs. Based on their Final Four appearance in AR14 – where they would have been a really tough contender for the title if Jen could just hold it in – coupled with their win here, I believe they have moved into the upper echelon of Amazing Race teams. It is hard to argue with success – they are smart, tough and extremely fit, and have now won a million bucks. If casting a true All-Stars with the 11-12 teams I think have been the best Race teams ever, I think you have to go with this group. In no particular order

That’s my opinion – I think that Race would be AWESOME. There a bunch of other great teams that I left out – and it is hard to omit Zach, but adding Flo would be a mistake. The one I wavered on was including the Trotters. They made a bunch of errors in both Races they were on, and they got by with a lot of help this season, but it is hard to argue with a fourth and a second place (the same as The BQs). Plus, a lot of that good will they parlayed into that help comes from their likability – the Goth criticisms this season notwithstanding.

As it turned out, the aid that Zev/Justin through towards the Trotters – dating back the first leg of the Race and most recently seen in the Cowboy-killing Liechtenstein Roadblock – would up being the downfall of the best friends. I am fairly certain that the Cowboys would have had a lot more difficulty navigating through the Brazil leg than the Trotters did. The dance task would have been one where Jet and Cord may have had as much difficulty as Zev. The Cowboys may have been athletic, but they didn’t possess the same gracefulness as a member of the Harlem Globetrotters has to enable a better set of dance skills. Is it any wonder that old NFL players do well on Dancing With The Stars? The sport lends itself to grace, training and discipline. Basketball is fairly close in nature. Plus, I wonder if the Cowboys were just as hairy as the guys were.